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Stray Dog Blues |
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Stray Dog Blues 2
Thursday Sep 07, 2006 12:39:00 PM
The last entry was about a stary dog my mom and dad found, and even though I did not like her I still felt bad for her. Because Petster of the month now wins $1,000 for a pet charity I thought I would post the letter my mom wrote to a few local papers about the stray dog situation, and the plight of other stray and feral animals in our central New York community. The following letter was written and sent to newspapers, but no one ever printed it or called to ask about the situation. My mom has verified sources for her material and knows that the contents of her letter are 100% true. (Also keep in mind my mom is a short story fiction writer, so her letter was kinda wordy, with the goal of provoking thought inducing imagery)
"During a recent summer evening barbeque I was joined by an unknown guest, a skinny and skittish stray dog. At first she just wandered the perimeter, looking for scraps, but after some kind words and a few hamburgers minus the buns she became settled into our yard. Knowing that the dog did not belong to anyone in the neighborhood we felt compelled to help the poor creature. I was surprised to learn that the Fingerlakes SPCA does NOT take in animals. Now I know you are saying to yourself, “this can’t be right, that is what the SPCA is all about”. To be fair, that statement was not entirely true. The Fingerlakes SPCA in Auburn does take in stray dogs, but only ones from Elbridge and Skaneateles. How can this be? Well, Elbridge and Skaneateles pay a fee (aka have a contract) to have their stray animals removed from their county and brought into Cayuga County to be disposed of, humanely of course at the “no kill” Auburn SPCA. I was informed that my stray would only be eligible to be taken in at the Auburn facility after it was tested for heart worms and proven negative for the disease, fully vaccinated and spayed or neutered. Also, do not forget the donation to the organization. Only after all this would the dog have been able to be “considered” for acceptance, if there was any room of course. So my kind deed of sending this fine and intelligent animal to a place where it could receive the proper care and not risk possible death meant that I would have to spend hundreds of dollars at a vet’s office. Only a fool would spend that kind of money to just give the animal away! Not making any sense of this I took the lady at the SPCA’s advice and called the city of Auburn’s Dog Control, but before I hung up she made sure that I realized that if my stray were to be picked up in that manner it would be euthanized almost on the spot. Decisions, decisions! Even though the Auburn SPCA is a safe and humane haven for strays it does not cater to the animals in need in Auburn. And don’t even think about dropping off a stray animal and leaving it there, the Fingerlakes SPCA will not even take these animals into their facility. However, they will call the city and ask that Dog Control be dispatched to pick-up the unwanted animals. Now the statement provided to me by the SPCA that the Dog Control euthanizes all animals it picks up is not entirely true. Yes, they do euthanize some animals after pick-up, the sick and the “unadoptable” ones, but the facility is full of dogs that need adoption. I never even knew this place existed, and was even more shocked to learn that they barely receive any money to run their operations. Of course people want to donate money to the SPCA, they don’t “kill animals” whereas the dogs taken by the Dog Control do face possible termination. But would you rather donate money to a shelter in your community that does not even give a damn about the pets in their own community and its citizens who support it, or would you rather donate money to a worthwhile cause, a place where they are forced to kill animals because the SPCA is not doing the job that you think it is."
My mom says she did not write this to discourage people from donating to this particular organization (the SPCA's in Syracuse and Rochester are not the same!), but she just wanted people to be aware of the system and its flaws. Also for people to know that the dog warden has his own kennel with dogs that need adoption and donations. Everyone who has heard this story are completely shocked and disgusted that something that should exist to help animals refuses to do so, and worst of all refuses to help because of the $$$ involved... as a side note the SPCA in question was not full and could have taken the animal!!! The dog kennel of the dog warden however was full to capacity and then some and yet they were still willing to try and help the best they could.
As an update on the stray dog, her owner never materalized and she is up for adoption. We hope she finds a good home!
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